Who I Am: A Memoir

One of the greatest rock 'n' roll guitarists of all time, and the creative force behind one of the greatest rock bands of all time, Pete Townshend is renowned for his dedication to music, for writing songs that have defined a generation, and for popularizing the rock opera (as well as for jaw-dropping acts of destruction onstage and off), yet he is also a literary editor, writer, and playwright. In this long-anticipated memoir, Townshend gives us the story of a man who wanted The Who to be called The Hair, smashed his first guitar onstage by accident in 1964, stole his windmill guitar playing from Keith Richards, followed Keith Moon off a hotel balcony into a pool and nearly died, is banned for life from Holiday Inns, was embroiled in a tabloid scandal that has dogged him ever since, and has some explaining to do.

"Intensely intimate ... candid to the point of self-laceration ... [Townshend's] tone is less lofty than anyone would have expected, just as this book is more honest than any fan would have hoped."—Rolling Stone

"Mr. Townshend's self-portrait is raw and unsparing ... as intimate and as painful as a therapy session, while chronicling the history of the band as it took shape in the Mod scene in 1960s London and became the very embodiment of adolescent rebellion and loud, anarchic rock 'n' roll."—NYTimes